Posts by Morgan Edwards4

It’s just one of those long, anxious waits now, sitting around hoping we actually get the green light for a biopsy after the consultation, and then once we have that info, we can finally figure out our next move and make a real decision on the spot.

Nah, that's not what we're talking about, it's not even a matter of a split 🙂

At the check-up, they basically just told us everything was healing up nicely and gave us a quick update about the upcoming tumor board meeting, and that was pretty much it. Honestly, if you haven't lived through this, I can't even begin to explain how incredibly clinical and detached these doctors can be. They didn't even mention the biopsy results until I actually cornered one of the doctors in the hallway and asked when we might hear anything. He just looked at me and said the results had been ready for ten days before breezing past me. So, there I was, hovering in the hallway like a total creep, just waiting to catch him again so I could ask what the actual findings were, and only then did he finally let slip that the margins and lymph nodes were clear. And don't even get me started on the lack of communication; it’s like there’s no central hub for information at all. You just show up like an idiot and spend half your visit pacing the halls, praying you'll run into the specific doctor you need at just the right moment. I didn't redact the patient and doctor names by accident, either. My point is, we ended up learning most of the vital info from the discharge papers—which, let's face it, aren't exactly easy for a layperson to decipher. This isn't a direct shot at anyone here, just my general rant against the entire healthcare system. To top it off, I tried asking a doctor for some advice regarding my dad's care at home, and he basically talked down to me, acting like I shouldn't even have the nerve to ask such a question since it wasn't "their problem." Look, I get that it's technically outside their scope, but I'm certainly no physician, so I was looking for a bit of guidance on how to handle the situation. Ugh... everything we've dealt with involving them over this past month is way too much to dump on this forum in one go.

I totally forgot to mention that they told us his stoma is just temporary and they’d try to reconnect the bowel in a few months, though honestly, we haven't seen a single word about that in this discharge summary. Now we're just sitting here wondering if they've actually given up on the idea or if it just wasn't important enough to include in the paperwork. To be honest, I'm even thinking we might "finally" get the actual discharge papers once that medical board meeting to decide on the chemo is over.

About half of it 😁
The doctors are just incredibly vague with their info; for instance, we only found out from the discharge papers that they actually had to remove his appendix, too, and that he was in critical condition following that last surgery. Honestly, a lot of this medical jargon goes right over our heads, and even Google isn't giving us any real answers. We’re also totally lost on how all these different issues tie together or what the actual cause-and-effect is regarding everything he’s been through, let alone how he’s doing overall right now. When he first went into the hospital, the prognosis looked great—the doctors figured everything could be handled via laparoscopy and he’d be back home in five or six days. Instead, he’s leaving the hospital in a wheelchair because he’s just so completely wiped out by the whole ordeal. Nobody ever bothered to explain to us why the laparoscopy failed or why all these complications happened after the surgery in the first place.

Thanks so much for getting back to me. The doctor gave us a quick update in the hallway saying the biopsy came back clear, but we haven't actually seen any official paperwork yet, and I don't see anything about it mentioned in the discharge summary either. We might have to wait until after the multidisciplinary team meeting next week when they decide on the actual game plan for treatment. Honestly, we’re still totally in the dark regarding what stage the cancer is at...
I'm dropping links to the discharge papers here since the text is way too tiny to read otherwise
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The discharge diagnosis also lists it as c18.7 malignant neoplasm...

Hey everyone, unfortunately, I guess it’s my turn to join this thread...
My dad just had surgery for colon cancer and was recently discharged from the hospital. The discharge papers don't mention anything about the biopsy, and we haven't received the actual pathology report yet. Verbally, they told us the margins are clear and the lymph nodes look good, meaning it hasn't metastasized. None of the tests we did before the surgery pointed toward any spread, either. Right now, we’re just waiting for the oncology board to meet and decide if he actually needs chemotherapy or not. I’m not sure if there's a specific timeframe for when patients usually get those biopsy results, or if that's why we're still in the dark.

Things got pretty messy for Dad after the surgery; it took over a month for him to finally come home, and he ended up going under the knife three different times in total. The doctors here are incredibly tight-lipped—we honestly learned more from reading the discharge summary than from actually talking to them, since "getting information" basically means hovering in the hallway and trying to catch a doctor by the sleeve if you happen to see one. Does anyone here have experience translating these discharge summaries? There’s a ton of medical jargon that we can't quite wrap our heads around, especially how all these different terms actually affect each other.